Panning sluice-box.



PATENTED OCT. 10, 1905.

(I. F. w IsWBLL'. PANNING SLUIGE BOX. APPLIOATIOH FILED DEC. 13. 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED OCT. 10, 1905.

(I. PQ WISWELL. PANNING SLUIGE BOX.

APPLIUATION FILED DEC. 13, 190i.

2 SHEETB-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN F. WISWELL, OF MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SOLAR MOTION GOLD SAVER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

PANNING SLUIOE-BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1905.

Application filed December 13, 1904. -Seria1 No. 236,692-

To [0 whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN F. WISWELL, aciti- Zen of the United States, residing at Hedford, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Panning Sluice-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the class of devices employed for separating and recovering gold in placer and quartz mining. It is Well known by mining engineers and experts that a large percentage of the gold in alluvial deposits exists in such minute particles, sometimes so fine and impalpable as to be invisible to the unassisted eye, that such gold floats on the water and is carried off in the sluice to the waste or tailings. The loss in this way is sometimes as high as sixty per cent. of this entire class of float-gold in the alluvium. It is also known to mining engineers that one pound of mercury will amalgamate one ounce of gold and that the loss of mercury from flouring is from one-sixth to one-third of a pound to each ton of ore crushed. This loss of floured mercury which goes into the tailings is in itself considerable; but this loss is immensely increased when the loss of gold carried off by it is considered.

The object of the present invention is to provide a sluice-box or series of boxes having a peculiar horizontal gyratory motion which will by combining the operations of panning and sluicing recover practically all of the floatgold and also the floured mercury when the apparatus is operated in connection with stamp-mills and amalgamating-plates.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same with a part in section at line a in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation. Fig. l is a plan of the bed-frame of the apparatus. Fig. 5 is a sectional detail view of the eccentric-bearing and its adjacent parts. Fig. 6 is an under side view of the eccentric and its bearing. Fig. 7 is a sectional detail view of one of the four ball-supports of the sluice-box.

1 designates a foundation of any kind, and 2 a bed-frame fixed thereon. On the foundation is rotatively mounted a shaft 3 in bearings 4, said shaft being furnished with a crank wheel or pulley 5 for driving it. On the shaft 3 are secured two bevel-wheels 6,

which gear, respectively, with similar bevelwheels 7 on upright shafts 8, which have stepbearings below in the blocks of bearings 4, as seen in Fig. 5, and above in the bed-frame 2. On the upper ends of the two upright shafts 8 are secured, respectively, eccentrics 9, and these have, respectively, rotative bearings in yokes 10. secured to the under side of a movable platform 11, which carries the sluice-boxes. When the shafts 8 are rotated, the eccentrics 9 thereon, which fit like journals in their bearings in the yokes 10, carry the platform around bodily in a circular path; but the platform does not rotate, as there are two driving-eccentrics placed at a considerable-distance apart, and if a line on the platform be parallel with the shaft 3 at starting it will always remain parallel with said shaft. In other words, the mechanismdescribed imparts to each and every pointin the platform a movement in acircular path, and all of said circular paths are of the same diameter.

The platform is not supported on the eccentrics 9, but on balls 12, one at each corner of the platform and each caged in an inverted cup 13, secured to the under side of the platform. The ball rolls about on a bearingplate 14:, fixed to the bed-frame 2 and having a slightly-convex upper face. The object in giving these plates a convex face is to keep them clean from debris which may drip or fall from the boxes above. The diameter of the ball is considerably less than that of the cup which bears on it, so that the ball though caged may roll freely without frictional contact with the rim of the cup. Mounted on the platform 11 are the sluiceboxes B and B, placed side by side. The

middle or receiving box-B is wide and is divided longitudinally by a low partition 15 that is to say, the sides 16 of the sluice-boxes may, for example, be six inches high and the partition 15 be one inch high. receiving end of the box B is at the left, and it inclines toward the rightthat is, the liquid bearing the precious metal is admitted at a hopper H to the higher end of the box B and flows down toward the lower end thereof. The stream is divided by the partition 15, one portion finally flowing through a flexible connecting-spout 17 into one of the side boxes B and the other flowing through a similar connecting-spout into the other side box. These lateral or side boxes B incline in an opposite In Fig. 2 the direction to that in which the box B inclines, and the liquid enters them at their higher ends and flows through them and out at their delivery ends, (designated by Z2.)

The box B is supported at its higher or more elevated end on a bolster 18 v and is hinged at its lower end (at the right in Figs. 1 and 2) to the lateral boxes B by any suitable form of hinge device 19. The boxes B are supported at their more elevated ends on a bolster and at their delivery ends on the platform 11. The bolsters 18 and 20 are on and form substantial parts of the platform, and the inclination of the boxes is attained by means of stepped wedges 21. The wedges for the box B are clearly shown at the left in Fig. 2, and those for the lateral boxes B are seen at the right in the same figure. The wedges are stepped or shouldered, as shown, so that each step elevates the box to a certain predetermined extent. It may be stated that these wedges are employed in preference to screws for the reason that the dampness and gritty substance which accumulate on screws so situated soon destroy them.

The hopper H (seen in section in Fig. 2) is rectangular in plan and has in it baffles 22, hinged to the respective opposite sides of the hopper at 23, so that those of one side alternate with and overlap those of the other side. To vary the inclination of these baflies, there is a screw Qet, which screws through a fixed nut and extends down loosely through holes in the baflies. This screw has on it collars 26, which take under and elevate the respective bafiles when the screw is run upward, and when it is run downward the baflies descend by gravity. The hopper H is hinged at 27 to the box B, and it may be kept level at all times by means of a wedge or wedges 28, which take under its free rear edge.

In the bottom of each sluice-box are fitted apertured metal plates 29, held in place by transverse strips or riflles 30. These plates and riffles may be made removable by any convenient meansas by securing-screws, for example. These plates may in some cases be amalgamated copper plates. As herein shown, the apertures and the riflles serve to catch the gold and retain it.

In the operation of the apparatus the liquid bearing the gold is admitted to the hopper H and may be recovered. The particles of iioatgold also tend by the motion to adhere to each other and form lumps or masses. The baffles in the hopper serve to distribute the infiowing liquid and deliver it properly to the box B. The liquid flowing from the boxes may enter a well or receptacle \V, formed in any convenient manner, and if the collected liquid still contains gold it may be passed through the apparatus a second time. A convenient means of effecting this, as well as for supplying the gold-bearing liquid primarily to the hopper, is clearly shown in Fig. On the shaft 3 is an eccentric 31, which actuates the piston of a pump P, which takes the liquid from the well at its induction side and discharges it through a pipe 32 into the hopper H. The suction-pi pc 33, provided with a stopvalve 3 1, takes the liquid from the well; but a branch suction-pipe 33, provided with a stopvalve 34, may be extended to any point to take up the gold-bearing liquid. The operation of the pump will be obvious.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim 1. An a 'iparatus for the purpose specilied, having a platform, means for imparting an orbital motion to said platform, an inclined sluice-box mounted on said platform, two sluice-boxes mounted on the platform at the respective sides of the first-named sluice-box and inclined in an opposite direction thereto, the upper ends of the two last-named boxes being hinged to the lower end of the firstnamed box, means for varying the inclinations of the boxes, and flexible spouts which connect the middle box near its lower end. with the respective outer boxes near their upper ends.

2. An apparatus for the purpose specified, having a platform, means for imparting an orbital motion to said platform, a broad middle sluice-box mounted in an inclined position on said platforn'i and having in it a low partition which divides it longitudinally, a hopper at the upper end of said middle box, said hopper provided with inclined baflles, two side sluice-boxes, situated at the respective sides of the middle box and inclined in the opposite direction, the higher ends of said sluice-boxes being hinged to the lower end of said middle sluice-box, means for varying the inclination of the respective boxes, and spouts connecting the side boxes with the middle box.

In witness whereof 1 have hereunto signed my name, this 8th day of December, 190%, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN F. \VISWELL.

\Vitn esses:

' James G. Lauen'rox,

DANIEL F. RILEY. 

